October 27 was suggested by the Navy League to recognize Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday. Roosevelt had been an Assistant Secretary of the Navy and supported a strong Navy as well as the idea of Navy Day. In addition, October 27 was the anniversary of a 1775 report issued by a special committee of the Continental Congress favoring the purchase of merchant ships as the foundation of an American Navy.

And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except the sovereign people, is still the newest and the most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man.

This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.

You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I’d like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There’s only an up or down—[up] man’s old—old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.

We’ll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we’ll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.

Nearly 50,000 voters cast ballots in just the first three days of early voting in Fulton County. North Fulton alone had 12,315 votes cast early for the Nov.8 election.

Fulton Director of Elections and Registration Rick Barron said he expects 400,000 to 450,000 votes to be cast out of 550,000 registered voters. That would be a turnout of more than 80 percent.

Fulton has received some 7,000 absentee ballots as well and received 20,000 requests for absentee applications.

“We expect 270,000 people to vote early, and it may be as many as 300,000 voters,” Barron said.

Early voting will continue until Nov. 4.

Early voting got a real shot in the arm from the Fulton County Board of Commissioners which has substantially beefed up early voting. Early voting runs 19 days for this election, and each Fulton Commission District has four polling places. For those looking for the fourth polling place in District 1, it is the North Fulton Service Center on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs which falls in District 1.

“The highest number of votes cast in early voting was in 2012 when 152,000 votes were cast. We should crush that record,” Barron said. “Of course there were only six early voting sites in the whole county for that election.”

Ivanka and Tiffany Trump, daughters of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, made two stops in Cobb County on Wednesday, one at a rally at the Cobb GOP headquarters followed by a roundtable discussion of female business owners in west Cobb.

Prior to their appearance, volunteers lined the walls, making phone calls to encourage residents to vote for Republican candidates. Cobb GOP Chair Rose Wing said about 200 people were in the building and another

100 were outside.

“We had to stop by and see you because we hear that Georgia volunteers are just so incredible,” said Ivanka Trump, encouraging everyone to turn out and vote.

She went on to speak of her father and how she’s had the good fortune to work at his side in the Trump organization for over a decade, watching him build business after business in multiple industries. He will bring that same talent to the White House, she said.

Tiffany Trump said her family lives just an hour away near the Tennessee border.

“My accent has actually become stronger as we landed,” she quipped.

Trump supporter Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren was among those in attendance.

“I think they’re amazing,” Warren said of the sisters. “From what I’ve heard about them, they’re just awesome. The oldest daughter is very active in the corporation and they got outstanding leadership.”

Warren said he was thrilled they visited Cobb County.

Following the rally, the Trump sisters headed out to west Cobb where they were hosted by Trump supporter Shannon Perren, who owns an insurance agency and real estate investment company by The Avenue West Cobb

She hosted 15 female small business owners at her west Cobb office during a roundtable with the Trump sisters.

Women at the Cobb County events were eager to trumpet their support for the GOP nominee. Many said the media have blown out of proportion Trump’s crude comments about women, and they cast him as a changed man who could shake up an ossified Washington.

“Look around. Do you think there’s a gender gap here?” Margaret Williamson, a Gilmer County volunteer for Trump, asked while pointing at the crowd. “This war on women stuff is nonsense. He’ll win Georgia. The only way he will do better with women is to pander to us. And I don’t want a candidate who will do that.”

Linda Lucas, a textile designer from Acworth, said the narrative that Trump struggles with women “annoys me to death.”

“I am very well educated, and this place is full of women like me. We are not stupid redneck mamas,” she said. “I understand the consequence of the vote. And I am just done with corruption. That’s why both sides are so afraid.”

“As Georgia continues to grow its reputation as the nation’s top destination for the health IT industry, major companies like Anthem continue to strategically position themselves here,” said Deal. “Georgia’s qualified workforce and the collaborative partnerships on both state and local levels will allow Anthem to improve customer outreach while maintaining its competitive edge on a national scale. We value Anthem’s investment in Georgia and look forward to the company’s plans for renewed growth and significant expansion.”

“Anthem’s announcement represents the eighteenth information technology or software development operation to set roots in Georgia within the last year, representing approximately 4,500 new quality Georgia jobs,” said GDEcD Commissioner Chris Carr. “We are excited about this new growth, and we look forward to helping Anthem fill these quality jobs with Georgia’s highly-skilled talent.”

The governor said Wednesday that he stands by his failing schools plan, despite growing opposition.

“I’m concerned about those children that are in these chronically failing schools,” said Governor Nathan Deal.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed issued a statement late Wednesday voicing his opposition. It reads in part:

“A constitutional amendment is the wrong vehicle for reform in an area where so much uncertainty exists. By amending the constitution, the public will be restricted in its future ability to make the many adjustments a program like this will surely need. By creating a new bureaucracy accountable only to the executive branch, parents are disempowered and discouraged from being active and engaged in their local school system.”

Former governor Roy Barnes and former senator Sam Nunn have both donated to Isakson. Rep. David Scott, a leading African-American voice in the state, said he’d vote for Isakson instead of Barksdale. “I’ve always voted for Johnny Isakson. He’s my friend. He’s my partner,” Scott said in August. “And I always look out for my partners.”

The latest Atlanta Journal Constitution poll showed the Democrats-for-Isakson phenomenon isn’t unique to elected officials. Among Hillary Clinton supporters, 18 percent said they’ll split their ticket and vote for Isakson, too. That poll shows Clinton trailing Trump by just two points but Isakson ahead of Barksdale by 15.

Barksdale’s failure to launch has kept outside money largely absent from the Senate race. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has invested no money in the state, while overall outside spending in the race is less than $2 million, all for Isakson, compared to $6.8 million of outside spending in John McCain’s race in Arizona, $30 million in Richard Burr’s race in North Carolina, and $90 million in the race to unseat Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania. The departure of three of Barksdale’s top aides since August hasn’t helped.

Democrat Jim Barksdale was in Columbus on Wednesday to meet with about a dozen Vietnam War veterans at the Columbus Public Library.

Barksdale said he doesn’t have a specific policy plan for veterans if he’s elected but noted problems for some date back to the Korean War, World War II and the Vietnam War.

“On the other hand, some are new,” he said. “Records get lost, and they aren’t getting the same kind of service they use to get from the standpoint that doctors don’t stay as long with the rotations of doctors, use of opiates and the psychological care.”

In the highest-profile transportation initiatives since the 2012 failure of a regional tax, Fulton County and the city of Atlanta are betting big on residents’ interest in making improvements to the way they get around.

The three proposed taxes, if approved, could be a bellwether for other counties that are still wary after the 2012 defeat. They are eager to see if there is interest in paying for transportation fixes in their own areas.

“All over the state, they want to see what we’re doing,” said Todd Long, Fulton County’s chief operating officer. “They’re all watching to see if there’s an appetite for it.”

In Fulton County outside of Atlanta, residents will vote on a three-quarter penny sales tax that would pay for repavings and other road and bridge improvements. The tax would raise up to $655 million over five years. The projects range from more than $50 million to widen roads and increase capacity in Johns Creek to $2 million to resurface streets in Chattahoochee Hills.

In Atlanta, voters will decide Nov. 8 whether they want to increase taxes by half a penny to fund an expansion of MARTA — which would raise $2.5 billion over 40 years — and by four-tenths of a penny to pay for other transportation improvements, including synchronization of traffic signals. That tax would collect between $280 million and $320 million over a five-year period.

When Atlanta voters get to the ballot, will they be willing to raise taxes twice, for both MARTA and roads? And will they understand what they’re voting on?

Gov. Nathan Deal took a moment Wednesday to plug new state funding streams making projects like the $1 million refurbishment of hangar doors at Daniel Field possible.

The project was funded by Transportation Investment Act dollars and dedicated to Augustans who voted for the legislation.

The Central Savannah River Area region, comprised of 13 Georgia counties, voted in 2012 to approve the TIA, an additional 1 percent sales tax now budgeted for some $728 million in projects, in 2011 dollars, over 10 years. Many projects are under way now.

“Your region was one of three that had the foresight to take advantage of that,” Deal said. Now, “other regions are looking – and having a little bit of buyer’s remorse.”

Technically, the vote doesn’t cover beer and wine sales, as voter approval isn’t needed to allow them. However, they could be part of a comprehensive alcoholic beverages ordinance that would need to be crafted if the city wants to enact voter-approved liquor by the drink.

Currently, only beer and wine package sales are allowed in Lula Monday through Saturday. The city has decided to not put on the ballot a separate referendum asking voters if they want liquor sales on Sunday.

What the ballot question says: “Shall the governing authority of the City of Lula be authorized to issue licenses to sell distilled spirits for beverage purposes by the drink, such sales to be for consumption only on the premises?”

Voters in the city of Jackson will be deciding in November whether to allow packaged liquor sales.

Voters in unincorporated Butts County voted in 2010 to allow beer, wine and liquor sales by the drink on Sundays in local restaurants. Supporters noted that permitting Sunday drink sales could remove a potential roadblock in attracting major chain restaurants to Butts County, especially around its interstate interchanges, which are in unincorporated areas.

Sunday package sales of beer and wine also came to Butts County for the first time in recent years, but the packaged sale of liquor has remained prohibited.

Until 2011, Georgia was one of three states in the U.S. with so-called “blue laws” that barred the packaged sale of alcohol on Sundays. After years of wrangling in the state legislature, lawmakers voted to let communities across Georgia decide on their own whether to permit Sunday package sales.

Early voters in Jackson will be able to vote on two separate ballots – one for the General Election featuring the Presidential and United State Senate elections, and a separate ballot for the municipal referendum. From the city’s website:

On General Election Day, Tuesday, November 8, 2016, voters in the General Election will vote at their usual voting precinct, AND vote in the city’s Special Election at the Municipal Court Building, 132 South Mulberry Street, Jackson, Georgia. While you are encouraged to vote in both elections, you do not have to vote in the General Election to be eligible to vote in the Special Election.

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